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Definition: honey from The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

Sweet syrup produced by honey bees from the nectar of flowers. It is stored in honeycombs and made in excess of their needs as food for the winter. Honey comprises various sugars, mainly laevulose and dextrose, with enzymes, colouring matter, acids, and pollen grains. It has antibacterial properties and was widely used in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome as a wound salve. It is still popular for sore throats, in hot drinks or in lozenges. In recent years, its value for the treatment of wounds has been ‘rediscovered’ and confirmed by clinical tests.

honey

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
sweet, viscid fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers. The nectar is taken from the flower by the worker bee and is carried in the honey sac back to the hive. It is transformed into honey by enzymes produced in the honey sac, which convert the natural sucrose (a complex sugar) in the nectar into fructose and glucose (simple sugars). The sugary fluid is stored in open cells, which are capped with wax when the material has reached the consistency of honey. The formation of honey is accomplished by the evaporation of the excess water in air circulated by the moving wings of workers. The honey required for an average colony to maintain itself through a year has been estimated as being between 400 and 500 lb (180–225 kg). The excess of the hive's requirement is used by humans for food. Honey is marketed either in the comb or with the comb removed by straining, by centrifugal force, or by gravity. The flavor and color of honey depend upon the kind of flower from which the…
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Full text Article honey

From Word Origins
Our Indo-European ancestors were very fond of honey, and their word for it, based on *melit -, has come down to many modern European languages, such as French and Spanish miel , Italian miele , and Welsh mel (it also contributed to English mellifluous, mildew , and molasses ). The Germanic…
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Full text Article Honey

From Encyclopedia of Insects
Honey is produced from nectar by removing most of...
† Deceased September 6, 2007 Honey is a sweet substance produced by social bees and some other social insects. They collect nectar or honeydew from living plants and transform it into honey, which they store as a nonperishable food for use in dearth periods. Its sweetness, flavor, and…
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Full text Article honey,

From The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets
The first recorded beehives, shown on ancient...
composed mainly of fructose and glucose, is essentially nectar concentrated by honeybees to around 18 percent moisture. Besides tasting sweeter than table sugar, the fructose in honey is especially soluble in water, helping to make honey hygroscopic, or able to absorb moisture from the air. See…
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Full text Article honey

From The Oxford Companion to Food
is the sugary nectar of flowers gathered, modified, and stored in a honeycomb by honey bees ( Apis melifica and A. dorsata ). From the plant's point of view the purpose of nectar is to attract insects which pick up pollen and transfer it from flower to flower. As the bee swallows the nectar, its…
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Full text Article HONEY

From Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
A sweet liquid produced by bees, from flower nectar. Honey, whose name comes from Old English hunig , was the first and most widespread sweetener used by man. About 80 percent of honey is sugar (mainly fructose and glucose). Worldwide, about a million tons of honey are produced each year, most of it…
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From Library of Health and Living: The Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Good Health
Honey Source: Scott Bauer. U.S. Department of...
A syrupy, sweet liquid obtained from plant nectar by honey bees. Honey contains the simple sugars fructose, glucose, small amounts of other sugars, and traces of minerals and vitamins, though the quantities are far below the daily requirements. Honey is considered a refined carbohydrate that…
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From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
honey
A thick, sweet liquid made by bees from flower nectar. Contrary to what many people think, a honey's color and flavor does not derive from the bee, but from the nectar's source. In general, the darker the color, the stronger the flavor. There are hundreds of different honeys throughout the world, …
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Full text Article honey

From The Chambers Dictionary
a sweet, thick fluid elaborated by bees from the nectar of flowers; its colour, golden brown; nectar of flowers; anything sweet like honey; a term of endearment; a person or thing that is excellent, pleasant or delightful ( inf ). vt ( hon'eying ; hon'eyed /-id/) to sweeten; to make agreeable. vi ( …
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From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Sweet, viscous liquid food, golden in colour, produced in the honey sacs of various bees from the nectar of flowers. Honey has played an important role in human nutrition since ancient times; until about 250 years ago, it was almost the sole sweetening agent. Honey is often produced on a commercial…
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Full text Article honey

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
sweet, viscid fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers. The nectar is taken from the flower by the worker bee and is carried in the honey sac back to the hive. It is transformed into honey by enzymes produced in the honey sac, which convert the natural sucrose (a complex sugar) in the…
| 303 words
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